Combination carburetor and fuel burner



May 15, 1928.

J. GOOD COMBINATIQN CKRBURETOR AND FUEL BURNER INVENTOR W ATTORNEYSOriginal Filed Nov. 6. 1919 Patented May 15, 1928 umrao STATES PATENTOFFICE.

JOHN GOOD, OF GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GOOD INVENTIONS ('10.,OF NEW YORK, N, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COMBINATION CARBURETOR AND FUEL BURNER.

Original application filed November 6, 1919, Serial No. 336,027. PatentNo. 1,377,989, dated May 10, 1921. Divided and this application filedMay 6, 1921. Serial No. 467,452.

The invention relates to the method and means of applyingsuction-operated burners to the intake passages of internal combustionengines in order to supply heat thereto for vaporizing the engine fueland thereby enabling the engine to start promptly in cold weather and tooperate in general with improved e fficiency and on the lower grades offuel. The invention consists more particularly in the organization of asuction- V operated burner with a carburetor in such manner as todeliver heatat the same or a. greater rate for load conditions as foridlmg, as may be desired, and the invention also comprises the detail ofthe organization and general structure as hereinafter more fully setforth, this application being a division of my co-pending applicationPatent No. 1,377,989, dated May 10th, 1921.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 represents in end elevation anordinary form of internal combustion engine, partly in section and withthis invention applied; Figure 2 is an enlarged axial section throughthe carburetor and burner combi nation, parts being shown in elevation,and Figure 3 is a modified form of the combination.

In the engine shown in Figure 1, the overhead engine valve 1 representsone of the intake valves and is supplied with combustible mixture fromthe intake manifold 2, which is contained within the water-jacketedcylinder-head and connected to the carburetor 3, the latter being bolteddirectly to the side of the head. The engine intake passage as thusconstituted consists of the manifold 52 and the passage through thecarburetor. The carburetor may be organized in any suitable way toproduce an engine operating spray mixture of fuel and air under thesuction efl'ect of the engine, as usual. It is herein shown ascomprising an air entrance 4 and a main air Valve 5, which is adapted tobe lifted and opened by the inflowing air against its own weight but isrestrained by the added resistance afforded by a dash pot piston 6,connected to the lower part of the valve stem and working in a liquidchamber, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2. The dash pot chamberconnects with the usual float-valvevcontrolled fuel receptacle 7 beingthereby kept filled with liquid fuel, and the carburetor fuel duct orspray nozzle 8 is carried by the valve 7 and extends through its stemportion being thereby in constant communication with the liquid in thedash potchainber. With this arrangement a fuel spray is deliveredupwardly from the center of the valve head whenever the carburetor is inaction. This type of carburetor will be recognized as well known in theart and further description will not therefore be necessary, and it Willbe understood also that it is adapted to give and maintain properrelative proportions for operating the engine throughout its range ofaction. The air valve 5 is closed by gravity only and on this accountthe relative vacuum it establishes in the intake passage is a functionof its Weight and therefore the same for all conditions of engineaction, that is to say, the suction effect established between saidvalve 5 and throttle 9 will be the same for all positions of thethrottle, although the suction on the other side of the throttle mayvary considerably and although the rate of mixture flow to the enginemay also vary according to the demand, this be ing a characteristic ofall carburetors in which the main air valve is gravity operated. If thecarburetor were designed with an air entrance valve closed by a spring,as for'exaniple in the case of Figure 3 presently described, the suctioneffect would vary more or less directly in proportion to the rate offlow. 5

According to this invention the mechanism constituting the suctionburner is connected to the intake passage between the engine throttle 9and the spray means of the carburetor so that its action is proportionalto the suction efl'ect maintained in this space whether that be constantor variable. In the case of Figures 1 and 2, which is preferred, thesuction burner is connected to the elbow passage directly above thecarburetor spray means through a group of about seven holes, marked 10,and of about the relative size indicated in Figure 2. These holes areformed through the curved or slanting elbow wall and open directly intoa combustioncham her 11, which embraces the exterior of the elbow and isconveniently cast in'place as a part of the carburetor itself. The mainburner casing 12 is bolted to the flange on this chamber and contains aninterior per forated air-distributing shell.13 and an air entrance valve14. A spray means 15 is mounted in the end of the casing and shell andprovided with a liquid orifice which is in connection through pipe 16with the float chamber 7 of the carburetor, and also with acommunication with the atmosphere through one or more air ducts 17through which air may enter the spray means to shatter the liquid fueland thus improve the atomizing' effect. A needle valve 18 is providedfor regulating the liquid fuel or spray delivery. A spark plug or othersuitable form of electric igniter is mounted in the burner in positionto ignite the spray just before its mixture with the air inflowingthrough the air valve 14 and the air holes in the shell 13. The generaldesign and mode of operation of burners such as above described arefully shown and described in my co-pending application above referred toand in my prior patents; the particular design of the burner and itsdetail of arrangement is not of consequence to the present invention solongas it is adapted to be ignited automatically or readily and tooperate under such suction effects as are available in the spacebetweena carburetor spray nozzle and its controlling throttle. The burnerigniter is connected to the usual engine ignition system or otherwise,so that it is in action whenever it is desired that the burner shall bein action. Simple means for this purpose are indicated diagrammaticallyin Figure 1, wherein an ordinary engine distributor head is providedwith a special connection to the burner spark plug. When an operatingsuction .effeet is transmitted to the burner through the burner outlet10 and ignition occurs, the resulting flame heats the outside of theelbow, while at the sametime, the hot burner products are drawn throughthe holes 10 into direct contact. with the carburetor mixture flowingthrough the intake passage, and the liquid fuel in the latter is therebyeffectively vaporized by the heat though without itself becomingignited, so that the mixture reaching the engine constitutes a medium onwhich, it can start instantly in very cold weather, and adapting it tooperate with special efficiency. The provision of the burner outlet inthe form of a number of distributed holes produces a quick comminglingof the burner products with the carburetor mixture and a rapidvaporizing effect, while the application of the burner gases to theexterior of the elbow affords a hot impingement surface on which liquidfuel particles from the carburetor spray means 8 may strike andvaporize. It will be apparent that the organization above described canbe arranged so that the burner 'will come into action coincidently withthe carburetor, when the engine is cranked over, as by the use of thestarting motor, indicated at 19 in Figure 1, which will suflice to startthe engine in action. Thereafter the suction effect produced by therunning engine will continue the burner in action during the warming upperiod as well as later, thereby avoiding the injurious effectsresulting from the common practice of running the engine with anover-rich carburetor mixture until it is hot. Inasmuch as the suctioneffect that is transmitted to the burner is dependent upon the gravityof the air valve 5 it will be apparent that the burner starts inoperation at a certain combustion rate corresponding to the gravity ofthe valve and that this rate is maintained after the engine picks up sothat the hot burner products will be thereafter supplied at a constantrate as the throttle is more widely opened. This constant rate burnermay readily be set so as to give adequate heat for starting purposeswith the particular fuel in hand and is also suited for thereaftermaintaining good vaporization during idling and such a setting whenselected will be found to be generally satisfactory for load conditionsgiving needed assistance to vaporization but without unduly consumingfuel, although it is within the invention to discontinue the burneraction or reduce its rate Whenever desired, as by using any ordinaryshut off device for that purpose as also explained in my copendingapplication above referred to.

In the particular instance shown in F g. 2 the carburetor valve mayreach the upper limit of its lift before the engine has reached itsmaximum speed and in such case it will be obvious that the pressuredepressFon .or

suction effect will thereafter tend to increase somewhat, with acorresponding increase in the burner rate, but for ordinary conditionsof use the suction will be substantially constant regardless of changeof speed, with this particular well known make of carburetor. For othercarburetors in which the gravity ratio air-valve has a sufficient freelift for all speeds'or other pro-. vision for the same purpose, theburner rate will obviously'be constant for the full engine range. Ineither case the advantages above referred to will be made available ingreater or less extent. Furthermore it is to be noted that inasmuch asthe outlet holes 10 are fairly numerous and relatively large they imposeno material restriction to the transmission of the suction effect fromthe intake to the mixing and ignition space of the burner, that is tosay, the pressure depression in the latter space is always very close toequality with that in the intake,

this condition-being important in order that the flow of air through theair entrance or entrances of the burner which are relatively restricted,or of less normal capacity than the holes '10, shall be adequate toproduce vigorous fu'el lifting or fuelspraying and mixture-makingeffects. It will be evident that the advantages of the relation ofpassages are not dependent on the location of the burner outlet withrespect to the engine throttle.

In the form of Fig. 3 the burner 12, which may be assumed to beconstructed and arranged to operate the same as above described isconnected to the carburetor between its spray nozzle 20 and throttle 21and is subject to the suction efl'ect established by the spring seatedprimary air valve 22 and the spring seated auxiliary air valve 23 withwhich this carburetor, which is of a very common type, is provided. Theburner outlet to this carburetor is constituted by an annular crevice 24of suitable cross sectional area for transmitting an adequate suctioneffect from the interior of the carburetor to the burner under thecranking effect and the suction so transmited is thereafter variablesubstantially in direct proportion to the rateof flow through thecarburetor, as will be apparent. In consequence, the burner starts inaction at its minimum rate of combustion and delivers heat to the metalparts of the carburetor and hot burner products to the intake passage inincreasing quantity as the mixture delivered by the carburetor,increases, givfng in general its maximum heating effect when the engineis under maximum load, a condition which is desirable for certain lowgrade fuels and in certain types of engine, and particularly when noauxiliary heating means, such as the water jacket in Figure 1, or anexhaust gas heater, is provided. In both cases above described it willbe apparent that the burner is without tendency to cease or diminish itsrate of combustion as the result of increasing the rate of How throughthe intake, and further that in Figs. 1 and 2, the heat of the burner ismost efliciently utilized because its hot combustion products not onlcommingle with the liquid fuel in the carburetor mixture, but the heatof its combustion space is also transmitted directly through the wall ofthe intake passage to a spot or area on the interior surface of thepassage where the heavier liquid particles in the mixture collect, orconcentrate, and tend to form a liquid film. The burner imparts no greatamount of heat to any other part of the intake passage except the partwhere a liquid film of fuel would otherwise be found and thereby itsucceeds in vaporizing the greatest amount of l quid with the lowestresulting temperature of the explosive mixture entering the engine. Theprinciple involved in this organization will be recognized asindependent of the structure of the particular means for bringing aboutthe concentration or collection of the liquid particlcs and also of theparticular design and mode of operation of the burner, or its place ofconnection to the intake passage. There is therefore no intentionallimitation in this patent to the specific arrangement taken forillustration of the invention, except as expressly defined in thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. The combination in an internal combustion engine of an intake passageincluding a carburetor having a spray nozzle and provided with athrottle to regulate the flow through said passage, a suction operatedburner having its outlet connected to said intake between said flowregulating'throttle and the carburetor spray nozzle and adapted to beoperated by the suction transmitted through said outlet and therebydeliver hot combustion products into admixture with the mixture producedby the carburetor.

2. The combination in an internal combustion engine of an intake passageincluding a carburetor, and a constant rate burner connected to saidpassage and producing a constant delivery of its hot combustion productsthereto irrespective of change in the rate of mixture flow from saidcarburetor. Y 3. The combination in an internal combustion engine of anintake passage provided carburetor, said inlet offering greater re-'striction to flow than the burner outlet.

5. The combination in an internal combustion engine, of a carburetorconnected to the engine intake ports, and asuction burner also connectedto said ports, having a continuous supply of fuel and being at all timessubject to the same suction effect as experienced by the carburetor.

6. The combination in an internal combustion engine of a carburetorconnected to the intake of the engine and a suction burner having aconstantly open connection to said intake, tomatically opening valve forsaid inlet adapted to operate coincidently with the operation of thecarburetor and to impose a greater restriction to flow than is imposedby sald constantly open connection.

7. The combination in an internal combustion engine, of aconstant-depression cartion operated liquid fuel burner dischargingburetor connected to the engine intake, and into the carburetor forheating the same:

a. suction burner having a continuous fuel and means for automaticallyrestricting the supply, connected to said intake and opervariation ofburner suction to a range less 5 ated at all times by the depressionacting on than the range of engine suction.

the carburetor. In testimony whereof, I have signed this 15 8. In a fuelvaporizing device, the combispecification.

nation with an engine having an intake; of

a' carburetor connected therewith; a suc- JOHN GOOD.

